Spinecare Topics
The Healing Spine
Novel approaches in treatment include surgical grafting of peripheral nerve pieces and fetal tissue into the damaged spinal cord, administering growth factors, genetically manipulating cell death programs, and neutralizing or bypassing natural growth-inhibiting substances and preventing astrocyte proliferation after SCI. Combined therapies such as stem cells and near infrared laser in the 810nm wavelength have shown promise in producing meaningful functional recovery following SCI in animal studies. Combinations of such therapies have produced the first evidence that some functional regeneration of a completely severed spinal cord is possible.
Basic neuroresearch has led to a better understanding of the presence and role of trophic factors, growth barriers in the CNS, and the intrinsic capacity of nerve cells to grow. The exciting results of strategies that combine these interventions suggest that such approaches will ultimately prove the most successful for regenerating spinal cord pathways in humans.
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